Lyceum Theatre

Address: Wellington St , London, WC2E 7DA

Tube: Covent Garden

Architect: Samuel Beazley

Opened: 1834

Capacity: It varies in the region of 2100

Early years

The Lyceum Theatre has one of most illustrious histories it goes back to 1765, although not in its present home in Wellington Street. The celebrated Shakespearian actor, dramatist, poet and theatrical manager David Garrick (1717-1779), performed at the Lyceum. Philip Astley had to use the Lyceum Theatre as an emergency circus, when his own Westminster amphitheatre was destroyed by fire. Another famous fire victim was the Drury Lane Theatre Company which was subject to a fire caused by gas lighting (a common problem in these times). In 1812, the Company were forced to lease the Lyceum for their dramatic performances. It has had many other usages over and above being a theatre including a concert hall, a pub, a chapel and it housed Madame Tussauds’s very first London exhibition of waxworks in 1802. In 1816, Beazley opened it as "The English Opera House", but it was destroyed by fire in 1830.

Not surprisingly, fire has been a central theme in its history because ironically it was the first London theatre to use gas lighting. Its other claim to fame was it hosted the London premiere of the Austrian composer Mozart’s opera Cosi Fan Tutti.

In 1834, the present theatre opened with the rather grand title of the "Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House". Composer John Barnett produced The Mountain Sylph in that year and it was credited as the first entirely sung modern English opera. However the operas were never a commercial success and the theatre adapted the works of the contemporary author Charles Dickens's novels. These adaptations were far more successful as Martin Chuzzlewit ran for over 100 performances, which at the time constituted a long run. Other contemporary works featured at the Lyceum was Elizabeth Gaskell's Manchester novels and Mary Barton and Lizzie Leigh.

In 1871, Henry Irving began an illustrious career with a French melodrama “The Bells”, which became a huge hit with sell out performances. The production for which Irving was most famous for was Hamlet which ran for 200 nights. At the time, Mr and Mrs Bateman managed the theatre, but in 1878, he died. Irving took over management of the theatre from his widow, but it was not a success, Irving demanded actors and not dolls as his co-stars. His threat was that if his demands were not met he would leave the theatre. However, it was an empty threat as Mrs Bateman left to manage the Sadler's Wells Theatre. One of Irving’s first acts was to engage Ellen Terry and she was to play at the Lyceum for the next twenty-four years.

Bram Stoker the author of Dracula, worked as business manager of the theatre, and Irving was Stoker's inspiration for Count Dracula. The novel was adapted as a screenplay and it played at the Lyceum, but despite Bram Stoker’s entreaties, Irving never played the title role. The popular Faust by William Gorman Wills in 1885, was so popular the theatre had applications for reservations from foreigners.

In 1904, the theatre was rebuilt and refurbished in rococo style, retaining only the façade and portico from the original building. The theatre at this time had stiff competition from the Palace Theatre and the London Coliseum, both of which were variety theatres. However variety at the Lyceum never took off and in 1909 until the outbreak of the second world war the Melville Brothers ran a successful series of melodramas at the Lyceum Theatre.

Between the wars, dramas dominated the theatre’s calendar for ten months each year, interspersed with pantomime including the Queen of Hearts in 1938. The lyceum had another record it was the last theatre in London to offer “harlequinade”. Harlequinade was a play or scene, in which Harlequin, a male character, has the principal role. Its origins were in the Italian commedia dell'arte, they were popular in early 18th-century England. They followed a stereotype plot consisting of a pursuit of the lovers Harlequin and Columbine by Columbine’s father, Pantaloon, and his bumpkin servant Pedrolino. By the Victorian era, the harlequinade was an epilogue often without a structured plot an appendage to the pantomime often it was a dramatized fairy tale. However, it was still dramatic offering the slapstick humour so popular at the time, as well as juggling and clowns.

In 1939, the London City Council bought the building, with plans to demolish it to make room for road improvement. The theatre closed with a performance of Hamlet directed by Sir John Gielgud who was Ellen Terry's great nephew. During the Second World War the plans for road development collapsed and The Lyceum rose from the ashes as the Lyceum Ballroom. Many of the big bands played here including the Oscar Rabin Band. In the 1960s and 1970s, the theatre was used to host pop concerts Bob Marley, The Who, Emerson Lake and Palmer, U2, and Culture Club all strutted along it boards.

In 1996, it reconverted into a theatre and lavishly refurbished for large scale musicals or opera with a large orchestra pit designed by Holohan Architects.The theatre has hosted the musical version of The Lion King since 1999.

Recent productions at the Lyceum Theatre: